Acoustic Basses

[patman]

Anybody have any luck with these?

I've been fooling with an old Guild thin hollowbody, and it seems like there are some really cool sounds to be had...I've just never had a lot of luck with previous acoustics I've used on stage.  This one is a better quality instrument than all the others, though.  Feels real responsive in my hands.

Anybody use a Godin A4 or A5?

[rahock]

I'm not sure which Godin is which but their thin bodied ones are a fine sounding electric instrument, but that thin body makes them just above nothing as an unplugged acoustic. They are great as long as all you do is plugged in stuff.
I've been playing an Earthwood since about 1972 and it's huge body makes it the holy grail for unplugged acoustic sound. The old fat bodied Guilds are really nice too. The negative side of the old fat bodies is that they're freakin' huge, and like most older acoustics, you're not going to get much use beyond the 12th fret. You can't beat them for acoustic tone and volume .
The new stuff plays really nice with their smaller bodies, electric like necks and cutaways to allow you to light it up beyond the 12th fret. The bad news is that most of them sound like crap unplugged and don't have squat for unplugged volume.
Tacomas are head and shoulders above the rest IMO. Great sound , great volume , and the feel is as good as anything you'll ever get your hands on. They are made from good solid wood and they are a bit pricey. Their Korean made version is the Olympia. It is the same construction , but it is a cheaper plywood laminate and lacks some of the resonance that its solid wood American Tacoma has. They are dirt cheap and they still sound better than anything I've come across at two and even three times its' cost. I bought one a few years back because my Earthwood is too valuable to take out and beat up .
I love my Olympia I use it plugged in so I put on a set of La' Bella tape wound strings {thanks to nofis advice} and this thing has the smoothest uprightlike sound you can imagine.

I have played a lot of ABGs over the years and to be perfectly honest, there are only a few I like, and I believe I've mentioned them all. I'm sure nofi will show up for this thread and I pretty sure he'll have a pretty short list too.
Rick

[patman]

Am really only interested in "plugged in" use...

Wondered if anyone has extensive experience using these for "stage"...

Wondered what a phospher bronze 5 string would sound like.

[nofi]

what rick said. most abgs sound like ass except the ones rick mentioned plus he has lots of plugged in 'stage'experince. you can trust what he says. i too would suggest a godin or a maybe a rob allen. both are thin body and  sound great plugged in. could go slumming and get a fender victor baily abg. they sound ok plugged in. of course consider what amp you will use.

[Freuds_Cat]

I've had 3 over the years, an Eston that I had years ago which was pretty rubbish, an Epiphone El Capitan which was better than the Eston but still quiet when unplugged both of which I sold. About 2 years ago I bought a cheap British brand named (Brunswick) Made in Indonesia  this is the one that I have kept. It has a ply top and a cutaway for upper fret access. It is at least medium loud and has a nice tone. The best thing about it is that it has an Artec piezzo system and sounds great plugged in. The most unusual thing about it is that it has a 32" neck and the E string resonates evenly with the rest of the strings. The neck has a similar feel to say an Epi Jack Casady bass.

I like it because its cheap, sounds good and I can throw it in the back of my car (no case) when I go camping or over to a mates place for a few drinks or a barby. Meanwhile I can still play it live and know it will sound good.

[Dave W]

I played a 5-string Epi El Capitan several times in a store, mainly because it sat there unsold for so long (it looked lonely  ) . The acoustic volume wasn't much louder than a resonant solid body. The top was way too thick, which I suppose was necessary to handle the long scale 5-string tension. Why even bother if the end result is that you can hardly hear yourself unplugged.

[stiles72]

The best sounding ABG I ever played was a beat up, hooker red, Kramer Ferrington that I saw in a Pawn Shop. I remember it was strung with flats, had extremely high action,  and had a very upright tone. Sounded killer - would have never guessed!

A few years ago I was getting asked to do some side work with a couple of guitarists playing  "MTV Unplugged" era material - AIC, STP, Pearl Jam etc..., so I went looking for an acoustic bass to compelte the acoustic vibe of the act. I really didn't like the feel or tone of most of the ABG's I came across,  and I ended up getting a De Armond Starfire instead. It sounded much warmer and woody, plus I figured it could also be used with an electric band as well.  The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the 32" medium scale length, but I've since learned to adjust. Haven't swapped out the pups for Darkstars yet - but that may be in the future...

[nofi]

the older dean performer series are 32" scale and sound great plugged in. not too expensive either.

[rahock]

Am really only interested in "plugged in" use...

Wondered if anyone has extensive experience using these for "stage"...

Wondered what a phospher bronze 5 string would sound like.

I've got no stage experience with Godin, only played one in a store and I was impressed with the plugged in quality a lot. I'm not a 5 string guy, but I have played a few 5 string ABGs and as an acoustic instrument the 5 string thing doesn't work out too well. They tend to have an unbalanced string volume, but if you're going all electric , that will be compensated for and it would work out fine.

The bronze phospher strings are pretty much a neccessity to acheive the maximum unplugged volume, but if you're going the all plugged in route, I can't say enough good things about how great a set of La'Bella tapewounds would sound. I was never a fan of tapes until nofi suggested a set on my Olympia. All the bronze string squeaky stuff goes away and they have such a smooth, mellow. woody sound. You lose a bit of acoustic volume, but in your case that wouldn't matter.

Fighting feedback on stage is a problem with any ABG I've come across. I can't speak for the Godin, but if it's a hollow body{eveen a shallow one}, it's bound to feed back some. I usually play the Olympia through a GK Backline 600 that has a 10db cut button for backing the boost down that is created by the preamp on the instrument. It works great. Obviously , it cuts the volume down but if you turn the amp up to compensate the difference it is significantly less prone to feedback. It's simply backing down the boost created by feeding the preamp on the instrument into the preamp on the amplifier.
No knocking Godin, they are a fine piece of work, but if you can ever get your hands on a Tacoma it may turn you on to real acoustic playing as well as electric/acoustic. I've got to say that playing an ABG has done more for my style of " playing bass like a bass player" than anything I've ever done. Some players may not benefit as much as I did, but I think it will have an impact on any bass players technique.
Rick

[Chris P.]

I think ABG are too big too play and you always need an amplifier, even when competing with acoustic guitars. I also prefer to use a Guild Starfire (sold) or lately my reissue Epi Rivoli or Ricky 4005WB.

[nofi]

that was mtv's brillant idea. electric basses that look acoustic. fail!

[hieronymous]

that was mtv's brillant idea. electric basses that look acoustic. fail!

Hey, I thought that was my brilliant idea!     I enjoyed playing my EB-2 with an acoustic duo that I used to sit in with...

[nofi]

many years ago my dad gave me a copy of the "mtv unplugged" book. surprisingly enough more people than i though used real acoustic instruments. neil young had a guy with a broom 'sweeping'  the same little spot near a mic. that's hardcore.

[Pilgrim]

I have an Applause (Ovation) ABG which is one of the louder ones.  The trick I discovered is that the piezo pickup outputs at an impedence that's not compatible with many amps.  I got an ArtTube MP and put it between the bass and the amp, and the sound was vastly improved.  I also got one of the rubber inserts for the sound hole to reduce potential for feedback.

[rahock]

I have an Applause (Ovation) ABG which is one of the louder ones.  The trick I discovered is that the piezo pickup outputs at an impedence that's not compatible with many amps.  I got an ArtTube MP and put it between the bass and the amp, and the sound was vastly improved.  I also got one of the rubber inserts for the sound hole to reduce potential for feedback.

I'm open to any trick to minimize feedback,so thanks for the tip, but please explain what the hell is an Art Tube MP.
I suspect it is something similar to the 10db cut button on my GK amp. It does something to the signal other than just knocking the volume down 10db.
I have no idea how many amps have this feature but it works really well. Embarrsing as it is to admit, I had this amp for better than two years before I ever questioned what the hell that little button was for. I hit it before playing my passive pu Fenders and all it did was cut the volume, what a stupid feature that is I thought. Then one day I was looking at the manual and discovered what it was for
Rick